


Static and Stasis

by NikAdair



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AI AU, AI Kenma, Happy Ending, Hinted KuroAka, Mentions of Blood, Scientist Akaashi, Scientist Kuroo, Semi-Scientist Hinata, mentions of anxiety attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29617920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikAdair/pseuds/NikAdair
Summary: His movements were glitchy, static surrounding them at times. Colours seemed to fade and multiply around the edges. His voice seemed to distort, overlapping itself. It would fade out to nothing before coming back, sometimes exceeding the volume limit.Something was wrong -- so very wrong. He could feel it in his coding. In the way the numbers moved beneath his skin. In the way his circuits misfired and lit up. Something was very wrong, and he only had a short time to figure out how to fix it.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma
Kudos: 3





	Static and Stasis

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the Haikyuu!! Big Bang! This was a lot of fun to write, and a really interesting idea to work with!  
> \--With art by the wonderful Ash (quillifer on Twitter, Tumblr, and AO3): [Twitter](https://twitter.com/quillifer/status/1363842706267602948?s=20) | [Tumblr](https://quillifer.tumblr.com/post/643827167129698304)  
> \--Beta'd by the amazing Mal (mattsunkawas on Instagram)  
> These two were wonderful to work with and I can't thank them enough for all the work they did! Thank you so much!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

His movements were glitchy, static surrounding them at times. Colours seemed to fade and multiply around the edges. His voice seemed to distort, overlapping itself. It would fade out to nothing before coming back, sometimes exceeding the volume limit.

Something was wrong -- so very wrong. He could feel it in his coding. In the way the numbers moved beneath his skin. In the way his circuits misfired and lit up. Something was very wrong, and he only had a short time to figure out how to fix it.

-.-.-

Pain. That was his first sensation. Pain in his extremities. Searing pain crawling through his muscles. Burning pain racing over his skin. Every touch felt like fire. Every breath felt like knives. It left him curled in on himself, hoping his systems would shut down.

Kenma could see errors flashing when he closed his eyes. A virus maybe? Something affecting his coding. He was scared. Not of dying -- he couldn’t die. He was scared of being scrapped. Of his memories being wiped.

In the brief moments where he could think, the haze of pain lifting, he thought back to the night before. To the dream he’d had. A dream he shouldn’t have been able to have. But one he had nonetheless. One where he was looking down at his body, curled in on itself, screaming. Where numbers ran under translucent skin, rushing by in only a way he could keep track of. Where his voice screamed and screamed, fading in and out of existence.

He blinked, the dream receding as another wave of pain washed over him. He bit his lip, hard, and curled further on himself. The sensation of needles ran under his skin, leaving him writhing as he tried to get away from it. It passed a minute later, and he relaxed against the bed, panting.

Kenma tried to run an error scan, closing his eyes and focusing on the parts of his system that lit up. But it was short lived, a brief flash of codes fading into searing white. There was a heaviness in his chest that accompanied this wave of pain. Something akin to when he’d been buried under a pile of books. It settled low in his stomach, making it twist.

Fear. A name he’d only heard or read about, but never experienced. He wasn’t supposed to be able to feel it. He wasn’t supposed to feel anything. Emotions. Pain. Any of it. He was a computer program placed in an artificial body. There were no sensors or programs in his system that would allow him to simulate any of this.

He was stuck in this loop of pain and reprieve for a while longer, and when it finally ended, he was curled in on himself, his programming on the brink of shutting down. His sensors blinked green and he felt his system leveling back into its normal patterns. Kenma sat up, breathing heavily.

There was a knock at the door, and he looked at it quickly. “Kenma?” a voice called. It took his programming a moment to register the voice, and another to recall whose it was.

“You can come in, Tetsurou,” he called back, running a hand through his knotted hair. It caught, and he pulled his hand away, scared that tugging at it would cause the pain to come back, never mind that he was scared in the first place.

Tetsurou pushed the door open, arms crossed over his chest. “You’re up awfully late,” he said, leaning against the doorframe.

Kenma quirked an eyebrow, looking over to his clock. “It’s not even nine, how is that late?”

“We were supposed to be leaving ten minutes ago. Testing day,” Tetsurou said. Kenma’s eyes widened, and Tetsurou laughed. “I’m kidding. We still have an hour.”

“You’re an ass,” he said, throwing a pillow at him. Tetsurou caught it, laughing more.

Kenma didn’t join, though. He bit his lip, and Tetsurou instantly quieted, looking at him in worry. “Kenma, what’s wrong?”

He looked away, fear washing through his circuits. He hated it. “I think… something’s wrong with me.”

“What do you mean?” Tetsurou asked, voice laced with concern.

“I can feel pain. And fear. And I had a dream last night,” he rushed out, already scolding himself for bringing it up.

Tetsurou crossed the room, sitting on the bed in front of him. “What do you mean you can feel pain? And fear? And dream?” he asked, voice worried but soft.

Kenma looked up at him, hands balled in fists. “I woke up and it felt like my skin was on fire. Like there were needles stabbing me everywhere. It burned. _It hurt._ ”

He watched Tetsurou’s eyes look over him, analyzing him. They settled back on his face, dark and stormy. “And the fear? The dream?”

Kenma shook his head. “I dreamt that I was looking down at myself. Or, a dream version of me. One that was curled in on himself, screaming in agony. Coding blurring. Distorting.” He shivered, the image resurfacing in his mind.

A hand rested on his knee, and Tetsurou looked at him. “We need to get to the lab. See what’s wrong with your coding, if there is anything wrong.”

“There is something wrong,” Kenma muttered bitterly.

“We don’t know that yet. It may just be a glitch. A one time thing. But we won’t know unless we run some tests,” Tetsurou said, voice soft, reassuring. Kenma nodded, knowing he was right. “We’ll run a diagnostics test and go from there, okay?”

“Okay.”

-.-.-

Kenma stared up at bright white lights as he laid on the table, the metal icy against his skin. He shivered a little, something he’d never done, and it added to his unease. Tetsurou caught it, and he saw him frown, turning his gaze to the screen in front of him.

“You know the drill. Stay still, don’t talk, blah blah blah,” Tetsurou said, making Kenma roll his eyes. “You ready?”

“As ready as I can be,” he replied. Tetsurou nodded and tapped on the screen. The white lights blinked off, being replaced with a grid of red. It ran over his body, and Kenma closed his eyes.

The scan only took a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity before it was done. The white lights came back on, and Kenma sat up. He walked over to Tetsurou, leaning over him to look at the screen. He wished he hadn’t.

There were error screens everywhere -- his limbs, his chest, his head. Multiple spots were lit up red, far more than there were errors. “This doesn’t make any sense,” Tetsurou said, clicking on a few of them. There was no information given. No solutions. Nothing. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“I told you there was something wrong with me,” Kenma said, stepping away. Something he guessed was dread settled in his stomach. He could only think of one thing -- the one thing he didn’t want to think. His programming was failing. He was going to be rebooted. He was going to be gone.

Tetsurou tapped quickly, bringing up prompts and menus, running through different processes, trying to find a solution. Kenma had sat on the floor, far from Tetsurou, and watched him as he slowly devolved into panic. “Goddamnit!!” Tetsurou yelled, hands slamming on the keyboard.

“Breaking the keyboard isn’t going to help,” Kenma said, hoping the joke would lighten the mood. Instead, Tetsurou glared at him, and Kenma shrunk a little against the wall. Tetsurou sighed, slumping back in his chair.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to glare,” he said, to which Kenma nodded. “Nothing is working, and I can’t figure out what else to do.” Tetsurou sounded defeated, and it didn’t help the situation. They sat in silence, neither sure what to say, when Tetsurou shot up, eyes wide.

Kenma watched him type wildly, an intenseness in his eyes that he’d never seen before. “You wanna enlighten me on what you’re doing?” he asked. He was ignored, and he crossed his arms, waiting for Tetsurou to finish whatever he was doing.

Tetsurou looked over at him, a weird look in his eye, the intenseness gone. “I think I have an idea of something we can try. But we need the help of someone else.”

“Someone else from the team?”

Tetsurou shook his head. “No, someone from a different project. A friend of mine.” Kenma quirked an eyebrow, but Tetsurou didn’t elaborate. Instead, he looked back at the screen as the computer pinged, a smile stretching over his features. “Clear any plans you may have had for tomorrow. He said yes.”

“Who said yes?” Kenma said in exasperation.

“Keiji, a colleague of mine. He works with the Fukurodani Project.”

-.-.-

He’d been up all night, afraid to go to sleep. He didn’t want to have another dream where he -- or rather his dream self -- was in agony. Didn’t like the way it left him feeling. Didn’t like that he didn’t know if it would cause another episode of pain.

Instead, he sat on his bed, back against the wall, watching the sky go from black to purple to pink and eventually bleeding into orange and red as the sun rose. Tetsurou was knocking on his door as soon as it did.

“Kenma, we need to get going. Keiji wanted to start as early as possible,” he said, poking his head in. Kenma looked over at him, pulling his knees to his chest. “Did you get any sleep?”

“I don’t see why that matters. I’m a computer program. Computer programs don’t need sleep,” he said, resting his chin on his knees and looking back at the window.

“You know that’s not true,” Tetsurou said, crossing over to his bed. Kenma didn’t move, instead curling further in on himself. The bed dipped where Tetsurou sat. “Your body needs the sleep, even if it seems a little redundant. What’s really the issue?”

Kenma stayed quiet, not wanting to voice his concerns. He knew, logically, that they were dumb. Pointless. That they shouldn’t -- and didn’t -- matter. But right now, he couldn’t think logically. Not when he knew that they couldn’t fix him, that he’d be gone.

“Kenma,” Tetsurou said, poking his head into his line of sight.

“I didn’t want to dream. Didn’t want to wake up in pain. I don’t want this, Tetsurou,” he whispered, hiding his face in his knees.

Tetsurou sighed, pulling him into his side. “I know, and that’s why we have Keiji coming to help us. We’re going to figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it and then things will be back to normal.” He paused, hugging him tighter. “They won’t reboot you.”

“You don’t know that, Tetsurou,” Kenma said.

“I do know that.”

“But you don’t!” Kenma pushed him away, scrambling back towards the end of the bed. “You don’t know they won’t reboot me! They don’t have use for a faulty program! They’ll reboot me and make me disappear and it’ll be like I never existed!”

He could feel his programming starting to short circuit, and he breathing picked up. Kenma clawed at his chest, feeling it constrict. Errors flashed every time he blinked, all clustered around his chest. “Kenma, breathe,” Tetsurou said, taking Kenma’s free hand. He squeezed it, hard, and Kenma gasped, looking up at him. “Five things, go.”

“Window, door, curtain, your hair, my shoes,” he gasped, blinking rapidly.

“Four things.”

“Your hand, my hair, the bed, my blanket.”

“Three.”

“Your voice, my voice, the birds.”

“Two.”

“I don’t--”

“Kenma, two things.”

“The-- fabric softener. Your deodorant.”

“And one.”

“Electricity.”

Kenma took a shaky breath, the errors fading, and he let go of his chest. His hand dropped to his lap, his joints protesting. Tetsurou let go of his other hand, smiling softly at him. “Are you okay?”

Kenma nodded, not trusting his voice. Not trusting that he could talk without starting to panic again. Hated that he could panic. He was a computer program, he shouldn’t be able to do that.

“No one is going to reboot you, okay? Keiji and I will find what’s wrong and find a solution, and you’ll still be here. Okay?” Tetsurou said.

Kenma nodded again. “Okay.”

Tetsurou sighed, shoulders dropping a little. “Okay. We need to get going, Keiji should be at the lab already. Come on.” He was pulled from the bed, Tetsurou leaving him be for a few minutes to get changed. He took another deep breath, settling his circuits as he got changed. They left a few minutes later.

-.-.-

Keiji turned out to be a very soft spoken person, Kenma noticed. He was rather reserved, making comments when needed, but otherwise keeping to himself. His eyes were like Tetsurou’s -- looking as though they were always calculating, always analyzing -- and it made him feel like he was being studied. But his smile was kind, comforting.

His friend, though, was like the sun. Bright orange hair that stuck up every which way. Bright smile that was contagious. Loud voice that sounded almost songlike. Shouyou -- meaning the sun. A fitting name for someone that was the embodiment of said object.

“So, Kenma, are these issues recent? Or have they been a chronic thing?” Keiji asked as soon as the doors closed to the lab.

“Recent. They started yesterday, but the diagnostic’s test that Tetsurou did couldn’t find a solution,” Kenma said, sitting on the table he’d been on the day before.

“That’s not surprising. The Nekoma Project has always been a bit behind on procedures and programming,” Keiji mused.

Tetsurou scoffed, crossing his arms. “Like you have any room to talk. The Fukurodani Project hasn’t had a successful test, while Nekoma has Kenma.”

Keiji quirked an eyebrow. “And how many failures did you have before you got to Kenma?”

“We didn’t-- That’s not-- Oh, shut up!” Tetsurou said, glaring at Keiji. Keiji only chuckled, making Tetsurou glare more.

Kenma looked between the two before his gaze traveled to Shouyou. Said boy was busy looking around the lab, eyes wide. Something about it made his programming short circuit and his chest feel light. It took a moment before he could think again, and by then, both Tetsurou and Keiji were looking at him.

“What?” he said, voice coming out a bit too defensively.

“We asked if you were ready,” Tetsurou said, trying to hide the worry in his voice.

“Oh, sorry, yeah, I’m ready. Let’s just get on with it,” Kenma said, laying back on the table. He caught a glimpse of Shouyou to his right, watching him carefully, and that light feeling in his chest was back. He closed his eyes, focusing on the error messages that popped in and out of existence.

-.-.-

Keiji was just as stumped as Tetsurou had been, pouring over the data that came in from the various tests they’d performed. Kenma was exhausted, his programming wanting to shut down for a bit. A stark contrast to how antsy Shouyou was acting.

“Kenma, why don’t you and Shouyou go get lunch while Tetsurou and I keep working,” Keiji suggested. “You’re done for the day, and Shouyou looks like he’s ready to burst.”

“Keiji! I am not!” Shouyou said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Sure you’re not, Shouyou. But you still need to eat,” Keiji said.

“What about you two?” Kenma asked.

Tetsurou looked over at him, smiling. “We already have lunch figured out, don’t worry. Now go. Get some fresh air. God knows you spend too much time indoors.”

Keiji laughed at the comment, and Kenma could’ve sworn he saw Tetsurou’s face flush a little. But he was more focused on the insinuation that he never went outside. He opened his mouth to say something, only to stumble as an arm wrapped around his shoulder.

“I actually have the perfect place we can go!” Shouyou said, smiling wide. Kenma’s circuits froze for a second, and he couldn’t stop the slight smile he had. “Bye, Keiji! We’ll be back later!” he called as he pulled Kenma out of the lab.

“Don’t get into trouble, you two!” Tetsurou yelled. Kenma blinked, coming back to reality, and flipped Tetsurou off before being pulled out the doors. He heard Tetsurou laughing as the doors slammed shut.

The sun was warm against his skin, but nothing compared to the way Shouyou’s touch felt. He felt like fire, burning his skin without leaving him in pain. He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not, only knew that it wasn’t something he should’ve felt. Not like that.

Shouyou, in his defense, was pretty oblivious to Kenma. At least, in terms of the things he was feeling. Instead, he seemed lost in his own world, humming a song Kenma didn’t know while he pulled him down the sidewalk. He didn’t know why he let Shouyou guide them, but he couldn’t bring himself to step away from the boy.

“From what Keiji’s told me, he and Tetsurou have known each other for a long time,” Shouyou said, breaking the silence. “I think he said that they went to school together. Or went to rival schools. Or something like that.” He laughed, leaving Kenma confused. “Anyway, they were originally supposed to be on the same project, but then Tetsurou made a split decision and chose Nekoma instead, and now they act like rivals. But you wanna know what I think?”

Shouyou turned his head, eyes sparkling as though he had a secret. Kenma couldn’t do anything except nod, lost in the look he had. “I think they secretly love each other and use this whole rivalry thing as a cover up.”

Kenma blinked, not expecting him to say that, and started laughing. Shouyou smiled brighter and started laughing with him. “That would explain the late night calls,” Kenma said, shaking his head. “So, where are we going?”

“That’s a secret!” Shouyou said, smiling brightly at him. To Kenma, it was like looking at the sun. Everything about him was like the sun. From the bright orange hair to the shining eyes to the wide smile he seemed to always have.

He hummed, letting Shouyou continue to pull him down the street. Despite how often he’d been to the Nekoma lab, this area was new. He didn’t recognize any of the shops, though they were similar to the ones near his and Tetsurou’s apartment. There were far more plants here than the ones he knew, though, and it made him smile a little.

Kenma was too busy admiring the foliage that he didn’t realize that Shouyou had stopped walking. He bumped into his back, stumbling a bit. “Welcome back to the world,” Shouyou teased, making Kenma’s cheeks burn a little (which in turn made him start to panic, since it was a new feeling).

“I-- sorry about that,’’ he said, looking past him to the building. It looked like any old ramen shop, though much quieter than the one he was used to. “Where are we?”

“This happens to be the best ramen place around! Keiji and I go here a lot with some of his friends!” Shouyou said, his voice just as excited as it had been all day. That mixed with his blinding smile made it hard for Kenma to keep a neutral face.

“You do know that I don’t eat, right?” Kenma said quietly, waiting for his smile to drop. He was used to the disappointed looks he got whenever he mentioned it to someone, and he mentally braced himself for it.

But instead of it dropping, it softened, much like sunlight did when passing through water. “I know, Keiji already explained that to me. Even if you don’t eat, I wanted to take you here,” he said, pink dusting over his cheeks. It made freckles that Kenma hadn’t seen more prominent, and he felt his chest tighten.

He smiled back, nodding a little. “Thank you, Shouyou.”

“Of course! Now come on, as much as I hate to admit it, Keiji was right. I’m starving.” Kenma laughed, letting Shouyou pull him into the shop.

-.-.-

The next day was much the same.

The night before, Kenma had dreamt that he was in the middle of a forest, moonlight barely breaking through the foliage of the trees. He heard a distorted voice calling to him, but he couldn’t make out who it was or what they were saying. He ran after it, trying to find who it was. But with every step, his body burned and branches caught, tearing at his skin, exposing his circuits.

When he woke up, fire burned under his skin, making him gasp and writhe, unable to escape the pain. More error codes flashed under closed lids, and it took much longer for the pain to go away. Tetsurou had come in, sitting beside him, unable to help.

“Are you okay?” Tetsurou asked, his voice on the edge of panic.

Kenma sat up, clutching at his chest, his eyes glued to the skin on his arms. It was as pristine as ever, not a single cut of bruise on it. It did little to calm him. “It’s getting worse, Tetsurou,” he said, voice quiet.

“We’ll figure this out. Keiji was up late last night pouring over the data, trying to find patterns in them.” Tetsurou reached a hand out, placing it on Kenma’s knee. “If you’re up for it, we can run a few more tests today. If things are getting worse, that also means that we’ll have more to go off of. But only if you’re up for it.”

He nodded, not really thinking. He just wanted the pain to go away. The dreams. The fear. Everything. He wanted things to go back to how they were. “Anything you need. Just make it stop.”

Tetsurou nodded, squeezing his knee. “I’ll text Keiji and let him know.” He gave him a worried look. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Kenma nodded again. “I’m as okay as I can be,” he said bitterly. “Let’s just go do those tests. The sooner you two figure out what’s wrong, the better.”

-.-.-

The following days were spent much the same. Kenma woke up from a dream he shouldn’t have been able to have, Keiji and Tetsurou would run tests and spend the rest of the day pouring over the data -- new and old -- to find some sort of pattern, and he and Shouyou would go somewhere new to spend the afternoon.

It was Friday, and Keiji had just finished his tests, when Shouyou had all but dragged Kenma out of the lab and into the hall. “You know, you get more and more impatient everyday,” Kenma teased, laughing at the pout that formed on Shouyou's face.

“It’s not my fault. They take too long and I want to spend time with you,” he pouted, completely unaware as to what he’d just said. Kenma, however, was aware, and his words made his cheeks heat up (a feeling he had gotten used to over the week).

“Shouyou, do you even know what you just said?” Kenma said, slipping his hoodie on. When he pushed his hair out of his face, he saw Shouyou’s face was bright red, and it made him laugh.

“I didn’t-- I mean-- Kenma,” he whined, which only made Kenma laugh more.

He started for the door while Shouyou groaned and followed behind. They passed a conference room, a couple voices drifting out of it, and Kenma froze.

“...figure out what’s wrong. Otherwise he’s getting rebooted tomorrow.”

“It’s a shame, really. Our first success turned failure by an unknown cause.”

“I know. And if one of our elites can’t figure it out, then how would anyone else be able to.”

Shouyou ran into his back, startling him. “Oh, shoot, sorry Kenma.” The voices in the conference room stopped, and Kenma took Shouyou’s wrist, pulling him quickly out of the building.

He felt like he was suffocating, and every step made his chest feel tighter and tighter. It wasn’t until he was outside, being blinded by the sun, that the feeling started to go away. He let go of Shouyou’s wrist, running his hands through his hair.

“Kenma? Are you okay?

Kenma took a breath and plastered a small smile on, turning to look at him. “Yeah, just wanted out of the lab is all.” Shouyou looked at him with a look that told him that he didn’t believe him. “So, where are we going today?”

Shouyou looked at him for a second longer before turning to look to the side. “There’s a place I want to take you that Keiji told me about. But it’s a secret, so I can’t tell you,” he said. He looked back at Kenma, eyes sparkling a little.

“Well, lead the way, oh master of surprises,” Kenma said with a genuine smile. Shouyou laughed, taking his hand and leading him down the street, away from the shops.

They hadn’t gone this way before, and it wasn’t anywhere he and Tetsurou had been. They turned down a walking path, the trees getting thicker and the foliage blocking out more and more of the sun. The path slowly turned from pavement to gravel, and even that eventually turned to worn dirt.

They walked for a few minutes more before the trees opened up to a grass hill that led down to a river. The water rushed below them, glittering with the sunlight that caught it. It made Kenma gasp a little, stopping to take in the scene below him. He turned and saw Shouyou beaming at him.

“Do you like it?” he asked, voice uncharacteristically soft. Kenma could only nod. It felt like he was under a spell, one that made it impossible to talk. Shouyou’s smile softened, and he squeezed his hand. “Come on, there’s a spot down near the river we can sit at.”

He let Shouyou pull him down towards the water, the rushing growing louder. It was cooler there, the air chilled by the river. He sat a little higher up on the hill where the grass was warm from the sun, and Shouyou sat next to him. There’s knees knocked against each other.

Kenma didn’t mind it, though. It was nice, comforting. It felt right. As though Shouyou belonged at his side. It was a strange feeling, but strange in a good way.

-.-.-

The sun had just set when his phone pinged. Kenma looked down at it, seeing that Tetsurou had texted him, saying that he was spending the night at Keiji’s to do some more work. He showed the text to Shouyou, who snorted in laughter.

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll do plenty of ‘work’,” he said. Kenma cackled, sending a thumbs up emoji to Tetsurou before putting his phone down.

As their laughter died down, Kenma made a quick decision. “Shouyou, there’s something I need to tell you.” Shouyou turned to look at him, and a heavy feeling settled in his stomach. There was no going back. “I’m getting rebooted tomorrow.”

A heavy silence settled between them, Shouyou staring at him. “What do you mean you’re getting rebooted tomorrow?” Shouyou asked, voice far too soft for him. It made Kenma wince a little.

“When we were at the lab, in front of that conference room, I overheard a couple of the scientists say that if Tetsurou and Keiji can’t figure out what’s wrong with me, then they’re rebooting me,” he said, his voice tight.

Shouyou just blinked at him. “And if they reboot you, then…”

“Then I won’t be me anymore,” Kenma finished. There was a sense of finality to actually saying it out loud, and it made the heavy feeling in his stomach sink further.

“But they can’t just do that. They can’t. They won’t. Tetsurou and Keiji will figure out what’s wrong. They have to,” Shouyou said, starting to ramble. There were tears starting to form in his eyes, and Kenma wanted so desperately to reach forward and wipe them away.

Instead, he looked down at his lap, hands lacing together tightly. “There’s no guarantee they will. They’ve done so many tests and found nothing. I don’t think--“ Kenma took a shuddering breath. “I don’t think there’s any way to fix me.”

His voice had grown so soft that he wasn’t even sure he’d said the words out loud. Shouyou didn’t say anything, and that made him believe that he really hadn’t.

Kenma yelped when a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders, effectively knocking him to the ground. “Shouyou--“

“Don’t say that!” Shouyou said, tears falling. “They’re going to figure out what’s wrong. They’re going to figure out how to fix you. And then you-- You--“ Shouyou was cut off by more tears, and Kenma sat up a little, hugging him tightly.

“You’re right, they will. They’ll figure out what’s wrong and I’ll be able to stay,” Kenma said quietly. He didn’t believe anything he was saying, but he knew Shouyou needed to hear it.

-.-.-

It wasn’t their plan to stay there the entire night, but they had. The sun had started to rise when Kenma nudged Shouyou awake. Shouyou groaned, and the fleeting thought that he was cute flitted through Kenma’s mind before he pushed it away, his heart fluttering. He shook his head a little, nudging Shouyou more.

“We gotta get going,” Kenma whispered, stretching his arms a little. A flash of pain went through his joints, and he winced, careful to keep the reaction hidden from Shouyou. He didn’t need to know.

“What if we just don’t show up?” Shouyou yawned, sitting up and running a hand through his hair.

“Tetsurou will get in trouble if we do.” _And we don't know what will happen to me._ A silent continuation, but one that lingered between them.

Shouyou sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Keiji wouldn’t be too happy with that, I guess.” He looked at Kenma, the sadness clear in his eyes. Kenma’s chest tightened, and guilt twisted in his stomach. “Guess we should head over then.”

They took the long way to the lab, both filled with dread. The building was far more looming than it should’ve been. Kenma took a deep breath, squeezing Shouyou’s hand. “Everything will be okay,” he said quietly, more for himself than Shouyou.

“We’ll be okay,” Shouyou said, squeezing his hand back.

They stood there for another second longer before walking in. The sound of the doors closing behind them was deafening in the silence that had followed them in. It felt like finality. An end. It made Kenma’s stomach twist and his heart rate pick up.

Kenma knew where they needed to go. The far end of the complex. A part of the building he and Tetsurou actively avoided because they knew what happened there. The reboot wing. Where all failed experiments. Countless others had been taken back there, never to come back.

He shook his head, pushing the thought away. He pulled Shouyou with him as they navigated the halls. They passed numerous rooms, all empty except for one. A large conference room covered in charts and scattered paper and empty coffee cups. Inside, Tetsurou and Keiji were pouring over the data they’d collected. They looked beyond exhausted, huddled over the data, and Kenma had to tear his gaze away as he saw Tetsurou slump forward, shoulders shaking.

They weren’t far from the wing, and everything in him was telling him to turn around. To run out of the building. To hide and pretend that nothing was wrong. But he knew he couldn’t. Knew deep down that there was something very much wrong with him, and if he didn’t get rebooted, there was no telling what would happen.

_Or if I’d hurt anyone._

Kenma took a breath, steeling himself. He let go of Shouyou’s hand and pushed through the door. It was similar to the room where Tetsurou and Keiji had conducted their tests. A single table in the middle of the room. Various screens and machines around it, and others closer to the wall.

Several scientists milled around the room, checking the equipment. One of them spotted Kenma and Shouyou at the door, and waved him over. The other scientists noticed the movement and stopped what they were doing, instead turning to look at him. He felt like a deer in headlights, and he once again wanted to run.

Instead, his legs took him to the table, Shouyou close to his side. He was given various instructions, but he couldn’t focus on them. His mind was too full with fear. With the knowledge that within an hour, he’d be gone. That he’d forget Tetsurou, and Keiji, and Shouyou.

_I’m going to forget Shouyou._

A sharp pain went through his chest. Different from the pain he’d been feeling the past week, but also similar in a way. His breathing started to grow shallow, and he felt wetness on his cheek.

Kenma froze. He felt wetness on his cheeks. He reached a hand up, something warm hitting his fingers. When he pulled it away, he could see water on them. Something stung his eye and he winced, closing it on instinct. More wetness fell down his cheek, and his eyes widened.

“Shouyou,” he said, looking at Shouyou. “Look.” He pointed at his cheek, and Shouyou cocked his head to the side. “I’m crying. I’m crying! AI can’t cry!” Shouyou’s eyes widened, and a smile started to form.

Multiple things were swirling around his head. Fear. Excitement. Curiosity. Hope. He tried to get the attention of one of the scientist’s, but none would look at him. Kenma made a sound of frustration, and he looked around the room, trying to find something, anything. His eyes landed on a pair of glasses sitting next to one of the scientists, and he gestured to Shouyou to grab it.

Shouyou handed it to Kenma, brows furrowed, but Kenma just smiled at him. He popped one of the lenses out and took a breath before snapping it in half. The edges were sharp, and he tossed the other half towards one of the scientists. They paused and looked up at him.

“I’m not broken,” he said, voice loud. It caught the attention of the other scientists, and then started walking towards him, whispering amongst themselves. He caught whispers of “He should’ve been rebooted days ago” and “He’s starting to get delusional, this isn’t good”. “I’m not broken,” he said louder.

He closed his eyes, and his hope grew when he couldn’t when there were no longer codes or errors swimming in his vision. He opened them and held the broken glass in his hand. “I’m not broken.” Kenma pressed the glass into his other palm, breaking his skin. Red started beading, and he laughed, showing them all the blood. “I’m not broken!”

A hush had fallen over the room, the scientists looking at him in awe. He saw Shouyou beaming at him, tears in his eyes, and Kenma smiled back at him, closing his hand around the cut. It was warm and wet, but it was a good thing. He wasn’t broken.

The doors to the room banged open, and everyone turned to see Tetsurou and Keiji running in, out of breath and holding onto several notebooks.

“He’s human! We don’t know how, but he’s human!” Tetsurou yelled, running over to them. Keiji followed after, showing the scientists several graphs with data points.

The atmosphere in the room slowly shifted to excitement, and it was filled with loud discussion. Shouyou and Kenma slipped out of the room, closing the doors silently behind them. They made a quick detour to the medbay, bandaging Kenma’s hand, before they ran out of the building, back to the spot they’d been that morning.

They were out of breath and fell to the ground, half laughing, and Kenma turned his head to look at Shouyou.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Shouyou said, turning to look at him.

“I needed to convince them. It was the only thing I could think of,” Kenma said, laughing a little at the end. Shouyou shook his head, looking back at the sky.

They laid there in silence for a few minutes, catching their breaths, and Kenma made a split second decision.

“Shouyou, I--”

“Kenma, I like you,” Shouyou rushed out, cutting him off. Kenma blinked, sitting up quickly. Shouyou was staring at the sky, but kept peeking over at him. 

“You…”

“God, please don’t make me say it again,” Shouyou groaned, sitting up and burying his face in his hands. Kenma laughed, making Shouyou look over at him. “What’s so funny?”

“I can’t believe you beat me to saying it,” Kenma laughed. Shouyou slowly dropped his hands, looking at him with wide eyes. “Yes, I like you, too. I was going to tell you, but of course you said it first.” Shouyou opened his mouth to say something, but Kenma raised a finger, cutting him off. “And since you did, I’m going to beat you to this. Will you be my boyfriend?”

It was Shouyou’s turn to laugh, and instead of a verbal answer, he threw himself at Kenma, hugging him tightly. Kenma hugged him back, reveling in the warmth that was Shouyou. “You know, I can’t believe I’m dating a former computer,” he said, voice muffled by Kenma’s shoulder. Kenma shook his head, but he laughed with him

It was strange, how things came to be, but knowing the ending, the happiness he was feeling, Kenma didn’t think he’d change anything. Not if it meant that he’d get Shouyou in the end.


End file.
